The Seattle Mariners need all hands on deck and working to the best of their abilities on offense this season, after not making any additions over the winter.
While the team has received massive contributions from the usual suspects, one fan favorite has failed to get things rolling as many expect him to do. After leaving Sunday’s game early, they may be waiting even longer for the outfielder to get back on track.
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The Mariners acquired Randy Arozarena from the Tampa Bay Rays ahead of the 2024 MLB trade deadline for a package that sent prospects Brody Hopkins and Aidan Smith to the Rays. The outfielder made an immediate impact in Seattle, hitting five home runs across 54 games down the stretch while carrying a 118 OPS+.
Arozarena, 30, lives for clutch situations. To this point in the season, however, he has not faced as many as he would like, and his numbers for the year have suffered for it.
Through 32 games, he has batted just .224/.366/.414 with five home runs and 18 RBI across 142 plate appearances. His .780 OPS ranks third on the team among qualifying batters behind J.P. Crawford (.805) and Cal Raleigh (.945).
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In his most recent game, on Sunday against the Texas Rangers, Arozarena left the game early with “a little bit of a hamstring thing,” according to Dan Wilson.
At the time of writing, there has been no further update on the status of Arozarena. The Mariners have also not released their lineup for Monday’s game, so no one outside of the organization knows if the fan favorite will be back on the field or not.
Arozarena brings a spark and a level of energy not seen from many other players in MLB, and the lineup performs on a completely different level when he is a part of it. Add to that his 22 walks this year, and you have a major cog in the machine who could be missing at least a little bit of time.